I am looking for a way from a batch file to start excel to open a specific
xls file and then save it in tab delimited text format and then close the new
..txt file.
I have a PERL script that requires the file to be in the .txt format in
order to parse it.
I have many files that require this operation and it would be easier to
drive this process with this type of functionality.

Yes Here is what I used.

excel /read c:\temp\book6.xls

i found the answer a few months aggo att the microsoft webpage

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...580301033.aspx

"Michael" wrote:

I am looking for a way from a batch file to start excel to open a specific
xls file and then save it in tab delimited text format and then close the new
.txt file.
I have a PERL script that requires the file to be in the .txt format in
order to parse it.
I have many files that require this operation and it would be easier to
drive this process with this type of functionality.

Michael,

The example below is a vbScript that would open the xls file
"C:\Test\RawTable.xls", save it as a csv file named "C:\Temp\RawTable.txt"
and then convert the csv file to a tab delimited file with the same name,
"C:\Temp\RawTable.txt" and finally close the txt file.

_____________________

Const xlCSV = 6
Const xlDoNotSaveChanges = 2
Const ForReading = 1
Const ForWriting = 2

' Open the Excel file and save a copy as a CSV file

Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

Set objWkbk = objExcel.Workbooks.Open("C:\Test\RawTable.xls")

objExcel.DisplayAlerts = False

objWkbk.SaveAs "C:\Temp\RawTable.txt", xlCSV
objWkbk.Close xlDoNotSaveChanges

objExcel.DisplayAlerts = True
objExcel.Quit


' Open the CSV file and convert to a tab delimited file

Set FSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFile = FSO.OpenTextFile("C:\Temp\RawTable.txt", ForReading)
strContents = objFile.ReadAll
objFile.Close
strContents = Replace(strContents, ",", vbTab)
Set objFile = FSO.OpenTextFile("C:\Temp\RawTable.txt", ForWriting)
objFile.Write StrContents
objFile.Close


______________________

Steve Yandl



"Michael" wrote in message
...
I am looking for a way from a batch file to start excel to open a specific
xls file and then save it in tab delimited text format and then close the
new
.txt file.
I have a PERL script that requires the file to be in the .txt format in
order to parse it.
I have many files that require this operation and it would be easier to
drive this process with this type of functionality.

Wed, 1 Aug 2007 12:30:03 -0700 from Joel
:
Yes Here is what I used.

excel /read c:\temp\book6.xls

i found the answer a few months aggo att the microsoft webpage

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...580301033.aspx

Unfortunately, arrogant Microsoft won't display that page because I'm
using a real browser instead of Internet Explorer. There was
something about checking to see whether I have Office 2007 -- itself
pretty darn arrogant.

--
"The Internet is famously powered by the twin engines of
bitterness and contempt." -- Nathan Rabin, /The Onion/
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

Stan

You could always use Excel Help on "startup switches"


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Sat, 4 Aug 2007 20:51:32 -0400, Stan Brown
wrote:

Wed, 1 Aug 2007 12:30:03 -0700 from Joel
:
Yes Here is what I used.

excel /read c:\temp\book6.xls

i found the answer a few months aggo att the microsoft webpage

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...580301033.aspx

Unfortunately, arrogant Microsoft won't display that page because I'm
using a real browser instead of Internet Explorer. There was
something about checking to see whether I have Office 2007 -- itself
pretty darn arrogant.

"Stan Brown" wrote in message
t...
Wed, 1 Aug 2007 12:30:03 -0700 from Joel
:
Yes Here is what I used.

excel /read c:\temp\book6.xls

i found the answer a few months aggo att the microsoft webpage

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...580301033.aspx

Unfortunately, arrogant Microsoft won't display that page because I'm
using a real browser instead of Internet Explorer. There was
something about checking to see whether I have Office 2007 -- itself
pretty darn arrogant.

I don't know which real browser you were using, but that page will display
in Mozilla's Firefox.
--
David Biddulph
Rowing web pages at
http://www.biddulph.org.uk/

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:13:35 -0700 from <Gord Dibben
<gorddibbATshawDOTca:

You could always use Excel Help on "startup switches"

Agreed, and in fact that's how I got the information when I was
looking for it a few months ago.

But I am just agog at the barriers Microsoft puts up to getting
information from its Web site. There seems no good reason for it.

--
"The Internet is famously powered by the twin engines of
bitterness and contempt." -- Nathan Rabin, /The Onion/
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

Sun, 5 Aug 2007 09:11:42 +0100 from <"David Biddulph" <groups [at]
biddulph.org.uk:
"Stan Brown" wrote in message
t...
Wed, 1 Aug 2007 12:30:03 -0700 from Joel
:
Yes Here is what I used.

excel /read c:\temp\book6.xls

i found the answer a few months aggo att the microsoft webpage

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...580301033.aspx

Unfortunately, arrogant Microsoft won't display that page because I'm
using a real browser instead of Internet Explorer. There was
something about checking to see whether I have Office 2007 -- itself
pretty darn arrogant.

I don't know which real browser you were using, but that page will
display in Mozilla's Firefox.

The real browser I'm using is Mozilla. As I mentioned, it just
displayed a page saying Microsoft was checking whether I have Office
2007, and stuck there.

--
"The Internet is famously powered by the twin engines of
bitterness and contempt." -- Nathan Rabin, /The Onion/
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/

In , Stan Brown
spake thusly:

Sun, 5 Aug 2007 09:11:42 +0100 from <"David Biddulph" <groups
[at] biddulph.org.uk:

"Stan Brown" wrote in message
t...

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ex...580301033.aspx

Unfortunately, arrogant Microsoft won't display that page
because I'm using a real browser instead of Internet
Explorer. There was something about checking to see whether I
have Office 2007 -- itself pretty darn arrogant.

I don't know which real browser you were using, but that page
will display in Mozilla's Firefox.

The real browser I'm using is Mozilla. As I mentioned, it just
displayed a page saying Microsoft was checking whether I have
Office 2007, and stuck there.

I don't have Office 2007, do use Firefox, and had zero trouble
looking at that page, even when i declined cookies. No problems
at all. It's a useful page.

Microsoft does lots one could criticize, but this seems not to be one
of them.

--
dman

Sun, 5 Aug 2007 13:47:04 +0000 (UTC) from Dallman Ross
<dman@localhost.:
I don't have Office 2007, do use Firefox, and had zero trouble
looking at that page, even when i declined cookies. No problems
at all. It's a useful page.

Microsoft does lots one could criticize, but this seems not to be one
of them.

(shrugs) Well, I guess this is just an unsolved mystery. It's not the
first time it has happened. If I were more motivated I'd dig into the
headers and the page source and try to figure out what's going on.
But since the chance Microsoft will heed my trouble report is pretty
darn slim, it would be a waste of effort.

--
"The Internet is famously powered by the twin engines of
bitterness and contempt." -- Nathan Rabin, /The Onion/
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/